National Low Income Housing Coalition: For Affordable Homes

About NLIHC

There are a few things in life that everyone should have access to. One of those things, of course, is having a roof over your head. Unfortunately, not everyone in the United States has access to affordable homes. And this is exactly what the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) is fighting for.

NLIHC is committed to achieving socially just public policy, to assure people with the lowest incomes in the US have decent, affordable homes. In order to achieve this, the organization sets clear goals:

To preserve existing federally assisted homes and housing resources.

To expand the supply of low-income housing.

To establish housing stability as the primary purpose of federal low-income housing policy.

The Importance Of NLIHC

The need for an organization such as the National Low Income Housing Coalition is significant, data shows. According to the Census Bureau, 46.7 million Americans were in poverty in 2015 compared to 46.3 million in 2013. It is also found that high-income households get four times more housing benefits than low-income households do and that federal housing expenditures poorly correlate with housing needs.

There is a lot to work on, which is why NLIHC differentiates itself from other organizations by focusing solely on the needs of extremely low-income people.
A 2016 report from NLIHC finds that there is “a shortage of 7.2 million affordable and available rental units for America’s 10.4 million extremely low-income (ELI) renter households, those in the bottom 30% of income in their communities.”

NLIHC works on changing those numbers by frequently providing comment and testimony on both regulatory and legislative issues that are impacting the housing stability of those dealing with a low income.

Working together

To achieve great goals, you need to work together. No organization understands this better than NLIHC, which focuses on getting state housing and homeless coalitions, direct service providers and residents and other low-income people to take action together. “Together, we can then hold federal, state and local policymakers accountable for solving the housing problems of low-income people”, it states on their website.

NLIHC’s teams work together to study trends and analyze data to show how much need there is for low-income housing. They educate lawmakers, create support for low-income housing and shape public opinion. NLIHC now has hundreds of members across the United States and is well-respected in Washington, D.C. due to its thorough research and policy analysis, changing millions of people’s lives.

Start Giving With Giving Assistant

You, as a member of Giving Assistant, can help NLIHC achieve their great goals! To become a donating member, simply go to ‘Settings’, select ‘National Low Income Housing Coalition’ as your charity, and slide the Charity Bar as far to the right as you please.

Becoming A NLIHC Member

You can also become a member of NLIHC by clicking this link, which gives you great benefits such as regional and national conferences, research publications and policy papers. NLIHC staff can also help you out with any research questions or organizing techniques and can give you additional information on their work.

Being a member is a great way to stay up-to-date on developments in low-income housing policy, to receive discounts on conference rates and publications and it gives you a chance to participate in the organization’s policy-setting decisions. For a full list of benefits, please visit NLIHC’s benefits page.

Want to know more about the National Low Income Housing Coalition? Visit their website!